Letting the train take the strain – or more fuss by bus?

Rail users travelling between the East of England and London on a weekend know all about the dreaded rail replacement bus – and there are more on the way. But why is this and what do passengers think?

For travellers in the region, getting to and from the capital at the weekend often means four wheels rather than two rails.

For decades, the rail replacement bus has been an inescapable fact of life as work takes place to improve the lines.

Since 2023, major engineering work for the new Beaulieu Park station has been a frequent cause of disruption.

During January and February, engineering work between Witham in Essex and London has caused weekend delays.

And there will be no let-up in March, with maintenance work set to take place that will involve the closure of London Liverpool Street for five days and disruptions on Greater Anglia services.

Network Rail said it would be undertaking upgrade projects on the Great Eastern Main Line, which runs through Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk, and on the West Anglia Main Line, in Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire.

The works, to include track and rail renewal and drainage renovations, will take place every weekend in March, and Liverpool Street will be closed on 15, 21, 22, 28 and 29 March.

For three weekends, Essex passengers travelling into London will take the train to Ingatestone and get a rail replacement bus to Newbury Park.

Greater Anglia said full details of alterations could be found on its website.

Other projects taking place include station and platform works at Stratford, Rayleigh and Wickford, as well as Hockley.

Eleanor Church, a video producer from Colchester, regularly travels into London for projects.

"Rail replacement buses have been going on since I was a child, and I am 43 now," she said.

Church said she had been caught out by the service disruption in February and had to get a hotel in London because she had no way to get home.

"It was a nightmare," she said.

"I am very pro-trains and use them a lot and would like more people to travel by them. They are a really important resource."

But she said having engineering work on a Saturday and Sunday, in a way that blocked out the whole weekend for travel, was "not good".

Smita Rajesh, chair of Chelmsford Hindu Society, said her daughter studied at a London university and was often put off from travelling back home over the weekend.

"She can't come home because the travel time takes up most of the weekend," she said.

A train from Chelmsford goes directly into London Liverpool Street and can take between 29 and 40 minutes.

But a rail replacement bus makes the journey up to an hour and 40 minutes.

Rajesh, who is also a Liberal Democrat Chelmsford city councillor, said the rail replacement buses "cuts us off from London."

A Greater Anglia spokesperson said: "We realise such works can be frustrating, so we work together with Network Rail to both minimise the number of occasions when disruptive work take place.

"We also always aim to provide a rail replacement bus service during planned engineering work so customers can still complete their journeys.

"We will continue to work together to look for ways to minimise both the frequency, and the disruptive impact, of such works.

"In the meantime, we are very sorry for the inconvenience caused by engineering work which does take place and would like to thank passengers for their patience."

Katie Frost, Network Rail's route director for Anglia, also apologised for the disruption.

"I'm sorry that our work will impact weekend passenger journeys in March," she said.

"There is never a good time to close the railway, but our planned work will deliver an extensive amount of renewals, repairs, maintenance and necessary inspections on these busy, well used routes into London Liverpool Street."

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